A Transfixing Cat Café Run by Actual Cats

Seriously, watch the video.

The Cat Life Café in Shanghai is, apparently, different than other cat cafés because the cats are its owners, while the humans are the guests. Or so says the café’s human proprietor. Which inevitably leads to two questions: 1) There are other cat cafés? 2) How does that even work? Cats can’t speak, let alone run a small business. It sounds preposterous. And yet, as the GoPro video above shows, it sort of works.

No, the cats aren’t handling money or dealing with overhead, but they do run the show. Fueled by a daily intake of nutritious snacks, they’re full of energy and much more active than your average neurotic, suspicious house cat. They also undergo a strict grooming regiment, per their human caretaker. Which is good for the patrons, as the cats/owners are very … hands-on with the clientele.